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If the pen is mightier than the sword, then paper is at least as mighty as the pistol.
A lone woman made off an undisclosed amount of cash from the TCF Bank branch inside the West St. Paul Cub Foods July 7 after slipping a teller a piece of paper demanding cash. She then fled the store on foot.
In a release from the Minneapolis office of the FBI, the robber is described as a white female, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall with pale skin and reddish brown hair. At the time of the robbery, she wore a dark sweatshirt and dark pants.

The current parking lot at Metropolitan State University’s St. Paul campus covers an entire city block and can accommodate 550 cars. As part of an expansion plan, the university intends to construct an 815-stall parking ramp on the lot, along with a student center and another building. (submitted graphic)

Metropolitan State University, with a growing student body, has been honing a master plan to expand in order to meet its projected growth rates. The construction plan includes a parking ramp, a student center and a new building for nursing programs.
Administrators are also awaiting approval of bonding funds from the state Legislature to put in a new science facility, something that’s been in the works for years.
The first bit of construction scheduled is an 815-car parking ramp on what’s currently a surface lot, located on the southeast side of East Seventh Street between Maria and Bates avenues. The proposal has stirred up a fair bit of dialogue.

There’s strength in numbers, but only so much.
That was the lesson for Inver Grove Heights residents on Cheney Trail July 8.
The residents’ protests forced the Dakota County Community Development Authority to adjust site plans for its upcoming senior housing facility. However, the residents’ request that the building be totally redesigned ultimately fell flat.

The Inver Grove Heights City Council has proclaimed July 14, 2013 “Jeff Davis Day” in honor of the 40-year-veteran of the fire department. (submitted photo)

Dropping what you’re doing to rush out to meet an unknown danger is something few people volunteer for. As early as the late 1980s, national firefighting associations were lamenting the dwindling number of volunteer firefighters and brainstorming ways to keep them on call.
Of course, at that point, Inver Grove Heights firefighter Jeff Davis was happily heading toward his 20th year of paid-on-call firefighting, with no thought of quitting.

John Warner, majority owner of Flat Earth Brewing, stands inside the room where the beer will be brewed. The building is a long way from being cleared out, and is still full of cracked paint and graffiti. (Patrick Larkin/Review)

Things are cruising along at the city-owned half of the Hamm’s complex.
So much so that the East Side could see businesses up and running on the site by this fall.
Urban Organics, which will be growing hydroponic lettuce and raising tilapia, has water in its fish tanks and hopes to do a test run of fish before the summer ends; Flat Earth Brewing is scrubbing its building, yanking out rusty machinery and sandblasting walls; and a future distillery owner is working with an architect to draw up plans for another one of the buildings.

The proposed sculpture by East Sider Philip Blackburn, titled “the Pendulum Beacon,” could end up on public land at Beacon Bluff next spring. (submitted photo)

When brainstorming for a new art installation at the Beacon Bluff site, East Side artist Philip Blackburn’s first question was: “Where’s the beacon?”
And indeed it’s true, there is no beacon to speak of at the former 3M manufacturing site, which is now owned by the St. Paul Port Authority.
But Blackburn’s project should change that. He plans to install what he calls “a next generation beacon” along the public path at the St. Paul Port Authority’s development zone.

Schwietz Saloon got picked up by a new owner, East Sider Ed Bertges, who’s hoping to open the place as soon as August. (submitted photo)

Schwietz Saloon, the well-known, well-trodden bar near Payne and Case avenues, could be open again as soon as August. It’s been closed since December 2011, but was purchased last October by small-business owner Ed Bertges.
The East Side resident is hoping to open the place up as soon as Aug. 1 with a full kitchen and bar. He plans to change the name slightly by adding Eatery to the end of it. He has yet to acquire licenses from the city council but expects to see it show up on a council agenda imminently.
Adding food to the picture was a necessity under current city code, he said, adding that he’s got a menu he’s excited about. He’s hoping to eventually run the place like a brewpub, which would include brewing beer on the premises.

An 18-year-old male is dead after a shooting near the intersection of Payne and Case avenues in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood on St. Paul's East Side, according to the St. Paul Police Department.
Police responded to a call at 9:26 p.m. Thursday, July 11, where they found a young man with a gunshot wound lying in a parking lot near Payne and Lawson avenues.

At a plea hearing July 10, Maplewood resident Steven E. Lewis, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery charges after fatally shooting a St. Paul man last year. Lewis told Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan that he “never intended to kill” Aung Thu Bo, 19; he meant to rob him and Bo’s girlfriend, who was present at the time.
In August 2012, Lewis placed an ad on Craigslist.com saying he wanted to sell an iPhone 4S for $250. Bo responded to the ad, and agreed to meet up on Aug. 10 with Lewis outside of Leo’s Chow Mein on Hudson Road in St. Paul.

After just a few special city council work sessions with department heads, North St. Paul appears to have chosen its prime city manager candidate from a field of five finalists.
Only one finalist is scheduled for a last interview with the council Wednesday. As of 3 p.m. Friday, city staff had not responded to the Review's request for the candidate's name.